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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24710605">The Transmuted</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProseByRose/pseuds/ProseByRose'>ProseByRose</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stranger Things (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action/Adventure, Billy Hargrove Has Powers, Billy comes back to life, Billy is 19, Getting Together, LGBTQ+ character(s), M/M, Monster Billy Hargrove, Neil Hargrove's A+ Parenting, Post-Season/Series 03, Romance, Steve is 20, Takes Place A Year After Season 3, Warning for past abuse, a shocking amount of plot, bad parenting by the harringtons, former enemies to lovers, warning for period-typical homophobia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 11:00:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,301</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24710605</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProseByRose/pseuds/ProseByRose</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hawkins is plagued once again by strange happenings and government secrets. Steve Harrington and his friends happen upon a startling discovery: Billy Hargrove is alive and no longer entirely human.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>59</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Transmuted</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katarra/gifts">Katarra</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katarra/pseuds/Katarra">Katarra</a>, I hope this fic fulfills your Harringrove needs!  You’ve been an amazing friend and my greatest cheerleader :) Your fics have always brightened my day (I cannot begin to describe how much I love your fics!) and so I hope to return the favor.</p><p>Thank you to my awesome beta reader <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlashMountain/pseuds/FlashMountain">FlashMountain</a>!</p><p><b>Warnings for Fic:</b><br/>Period-typical homophobia, homophobic language, heteronormative culture, period-typical sexism, explicit language, explicit sex scenes, and show-level violence.</p><p><b>Chapter Warnings:</b><br/>Period-typical homophobia, homophobic language, heteronormative culture, and explicit language.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Where was he? </p><p>It was too fucking hot. He was swimming in a vast green sea that swayed and spun around him and he was lost, so very lost. A looming dark shape in the water smacked into him.</p><p>“Fuck!” he tried to say, but his throat was too dry. “Fff” escaped his lips and he choked on the coughs that forced their way out of him.</p><p>The sea around him was dirty, an oozy brown color seeping like an oil spill through it.</p><p>He stumbled. The sudden jolt of hitting an unyielding surface stung his hands and pain lanced through his knees. </p><p><em> “Don’t be afraid. It’ll be over soon. Just stay very still.” </em> </p><p>Now that he was on his knees and clinging to the ground, the lurching motion of the waves calmed even if his gut still roiled and churned. A sharp pain under one palm begged for his attention. He squinted and the murky smear of green and brown that had been clouding his vision slowly came into focus.  </p><p>He could see saplings and tufts of crabgrass dotting an expanse of scraggly undergrowth and a crowd of trees huddled around in all directions. His stinging hand retreated from the source of pain. A thin snapped branch was underneath it.</p><p><em> “Billy!” </em>a woman’s voice echoed in the distance.</p><p>“Did you see that?” he muttered, forcing out the words through his uncooperative throat. Prickly leaves itched at the palm still pressed into the ground. “That was at least seven feet.”</p><p>Branches rustled in the wind. His breathing sounded wrong. Too loud.</p><p>The woman didn’t call his name again.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p><em> “The Shining,” </em> Lucas declared, snatching up the VHS case that Jack Nicholson’s manic face grinned from. He held it out, and both Max and Dustin crowded around him with the same sounds of approval they always had for pizza night. Steve groaned. An R-rated movie, and guess who they were going to convince to rent it for them?</p><p>“Woah, wait a minute,” Steve said, already knowing what was coming next. How did his life even come to this? Oh, right—<em>“Let me guess, you plan to beg your dad for a job,” </em> Robin had said nearly three months after Starcourt Mall had closed when she caught him glaring at the classifieds page of the newspaper in disgust. “<em>Face it, whatever your dad will offer will be part-time and dull. Family Video’s hiring. Come on, dingus, it can’t be that bad of a job.” </em> She was so wrong, it was the <em> worst </em> job. “Mike, El, you haven’t seen each other in months. Don’t you want something a bit more, you know, romantic?”</p><p>“I think it’d be a great date night movie,” Max said. Traitor.</p><p>But the playful smirk on Max’s face was a lie, or at least partially a lie. He knew this because she had her pendant of Saint Christopher—which was Billy’s necklace, but now that he’s dead, she wears it in remembrance—pinched between her thumb and index finger and she’s absently tugging at it. </p><p>She only does this when she’s angry. He suspects she’s been fighting with her stepdad again.</p><p>“Better choice than this,” El said, peering at the back of the VHS cover of <em> Grease </em> that Steve had handed her a few minutes ago. Her nose wrinkled. “Why name it grease if it’s romance? Lard is not romantic.”</p><p>Mike hovered behind her shoulder like he's been doing all week. El and Will only have a few weeks here in Hawkins—enough time to try to squeeze in a summer full of fun—before they’ll be shipped back to Indiannapolis with Joyce. Mike is her constant shadow right now, soaking up her presence as much as he can in the time they have left.</p><p>“Dustin, you’re watching this with Suzie,” Steve said. “Come on, really,<em> The Shining</em>? Didn’t you say she hates horror films or something?”</p><p>“She doesn’t hate them, she just has to close her eyes for some of it. But she’s listening in over the radio anyways, no scary scenes to see.” Dustin held out his hands in triumph as if to say “ta-da!”</p><p>“Wait, she’s what?” Steve had thought everyone would be there in person for movie night. He couldn’t rely on Suzie then. That left just one person. “Ok then. Will, who’s your date?”</p><p>With any luck, whoever she was, she <em> hated </em> scary movies.</p><p>“Oh,” Will said, his shoulders creeping up to his ears, like a turtle disappearing into its shell. “I’m not bringing anyone.”</p><p>Poor guy. Steve remembered what it was like to be fifteen when there was nothing more intimidating than talking to a girl. Especially a pretty one. “Fake it till you make it” had been his own motto at that age; the trick was flirting like he had more confidence than he actually did. It had worked well enough.</p><p>“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Steve said. “You’ve got plenty of time until tonight. Tell you what, whatever girl you got your eye on, call her up and invite her. I’ll be your coach. I taught Dustin everything I know and he’s got Suzie now, right?”</p><p>“Uh, I got Suzie by ignoring your advice and doing the opposite.” Dustin clearly had no idea what he was talking about; Steve’s advice was the <em> best</em>. Dustin continued in a pained voice, “Seriously, he told me to act like I don’t care.”</p><p>“And girls like that?” El’s eyes narrowed into what Steve thinks of as her “I smell bullshit” face. </p><p>Public school has taught El two things: first, the difference between a soulless institution like the lab and a high school is the school room you’re locked in as punishment for breaking the rules has other kids in it and sometimes a window. Plus traveling to other dimensions is strictly discouraged during school hours. Second, you don’t have to be raised in isolation in a lab to be ignorant and have no idea what you’re talking about.</p><p>She’s a little suspicious of all advice now, which is a good thing in his opinion, even if right now that doubt is aimed at his <em> perfectly good </em> dating advice.</p><p>Max snorted. “Would you like it if Mike acted like he didn’t care?”</p><p>“No,” El declared. Lucas shook his head, fixing Steve with a look of disappointment. </p><p>“What?” Steve said in disbelief. No way, Steve had the moves. He’s had dates with two different girls this month alone. Sure, no second dates, but that’s how it goes sometimes. “No, don’t listen to them. I’ll get you a date, trust me.”</p><p>“No, I—” Will looked like he was desperately praying for the floor to suddenly collapse beneath him and save him from this conversation. “I don’t really—”</p><p>“It’s okay, you don’t need a date,” Mike blurted. “Right guys?”</p><p>“Yeah!” Dustin said.</p><p>“Date night’s overrated anyways,” Lucas said, and pointedly added in the direction of Max’s sudden glare, “until you find the right person. No sense rushing it until he’s ready.”</p><p>Those lack of second dates were his fault anyways. He was the one who was supposed to ask for another date. It’s just, well, recently he felt like he was trapped in dates with girls who expected—and wanted—his former High School self: the version of Steve Harrington who Keith still called the “ultimate douchebag.” The guy who didn’t yet know about monsters and personal sacrifice and that the best people you could ever meet were sometimes the people you least expected it of. </p><p>“Yeah? I bet you’re ready now,” Steve said, talking to himself as much as Will. There had to be <em> someone </em> out there he connected with. All he had to do was keep looking. “Come on, what’s her name?”</p><p>Will opened his mouth as if to speak, but after a moment of not saying anything, just shrugged. Well, okay then. </p><p>“It’s okay,” Steve said. “Whoever she is—”</p><p>And he saw Robin at the registers waving at the newest customer, one of Steve’s old teachers who was wandering a little lost through the video rental store. How many times had Robin been forced to hide what she was really saying behind vague pronouns? Forced to stay silent and let people make their own incorrect assumptions? The look in Will’s eyes, like he was holding back something he wanted to say and he couldn’t decide whether to say it to Steve, reminded him of Robin’s when he had confessed he liked her and she had confessed—</p><p>“Oh!” Steve said as all the small hints over the past three years clicked together. Oh shit, he was an idiot. Will had never once mentioned a crush on any girl ever in the time he’s known him. All the times Will had confessed to feeling different from everyone else in Hawkins, maybe he was talking about more than how his time in the Upside Down had changed him. “Or anyone! Anybody you want to invite, I can—I can help with that.” </p><p>“Uh, thanks, but I don’t want to invite anyone.”</p><p><em> Faggot! </em>The favorite word of the Hawkins High basketball team. Reed in particular liked to snear it at whoever he had outmaneuvered at the court. Meant to humiliate, it was lobbed like a rock at every boy within reach from middle school to high school. How much worse did it feel for Will?</p><p>“Okay,” Steve said. “Yeah, I get it; there’s nothing wrong with that.”</p><p>Wow, how had he missed this? Was Will safe? Mike would never abandon his friendship with Will over something like this. Neither would Dustin or Lucas or Max or El. Surely not. No, no, of course not; now that he was looking at them, he was sure they already knew at least some of it. And Joyce? Thank god she was Will’s mom. She’d be supportive of Will. Jonathan too.</p><p>Steve took a deep breath. There was nothing to worry about, at least for now.</p><p>“So <em> The Shining </em> it is,” he said. Ah, what the hell, after several years of very real monsters (literal and human), why not let them have a bit of make-believe horror for an evening?</p><p>“You know the rules, Harrington,” Keith droned in a monotone as Steve brought the VHS to the registers, not even glancing up from where he was scribbling in names on the schedule for the upcoming week. As usual, Keith was sitting behind the counter far enough away he didn’t have to man a register himself unless there were more than a couple customers at the counter; one of the benefits of being the manager. Robin was leaning against the counter nearby looking <em> bored. </em> So, you know, the usual. “Customers have to rent movies on their own accounts, not yours.”</p><p>“Come on, it’s a movie night at my apartment,” Steve said. “So it’s <em> my </em> movie rental.”</p><p>Keith ignored him instead of repeating the rule which meant Steve had won. After a year of working together, Steve likes to think the two of them have reached an uneasy truce.</p><p>“<em>The Shining</em>—nice! Do I get an invite?” Robin said, straightening up from leaning on the counter where she had <em>not </em>beenwatching Laurie Nelson browse the New Releases. <em> “It’s not a crush,” </em> Robin had said a few weeks back when he had asked. <em> “Okay, maybe a little one. Not that it matters, she’s not going to notice. Besides, Hawkins is a ridiculously small town. The chances I’ll find someone that’s exactly what I’m looking for are the same chances you’ll suddenly develop a decent taste in movies—zero.” </em>Harsh. </p><p>“Bring popcorn and you’re in.” Under Keith’s watchful gaze, Steve plunked the VHS down in his corner of the employee back shelves instead of giving it to the boys to hold onto. Lucas sighed, denied his treasure for now, but then accepted it and tossed the book he’d been carrying around all summer—<em>The Art of War</em>—on the counter. After all, there was candy to buy and no time to waste. </p><p>“Jonathan doesn’t mind?” Robin said as she and Steve watched the teens decide who was going to buy what as they raided the candy displays. “Your apartment isn’t exactly big and you’ve already invited a hoard of teens.”</p><p>Gobstoppers, Smarties, Laffy Taffy—Steve watched the small stack of candy turn into a pile as the teens pooled their choices onto the counter.</p><p>“As long as everyone’s out by ten.” When Jonathan had moved back to Hawkins after graduating and needed a roommate to afford an apartment, Steve had jumped at the chance. A year of working full-time while living with your parents will do that to you. He knows it’s temporary at best. Someday Jonathan’s roommate will be Nancy—a whole different kind of roommate—and Steve will be back to figuring out how to afford a place to live. “It’s Saturday; he’ll take Nancy on a real date. But everyone will want to be gone by the time they get back, believe me.”</p><p>“Heh.” Robin chuckled, and then as she always did when reminded of dating while Keith was nearby, puckered up and blew an exaggerated kiss in Steve’s direction. </p><p>Steve groaned in embarrassment and glanced over to where Keith was watching with narrowed eyes. Robin cracked up. Faced with the choice of being either resigned or annoyed that Keith was convinced she had a crush on Steve, Robin had instead become a prankster who found it amusing to add fuel to the flames.</p><p>“Earth to Steve. If you’re done flirting, we’re ready.” Max pretended to hold back a barf.</p><p>“Very funny,” Steve muttered.</p><p>Add up the total, exchange the money, count out the change. The thrills of the job. Once they had the receipt, the teens quickly split up the candy among each other to carry. Steve knew better than to offer a bag to carry it all: not all the candy was going to reach its destination unopened, and temptation felt best when close at hand.</p><p>“Hi, Mr. Clarke!” Dustin waved at the middle school science teacher as the man wandered past to Robin’s register with a Beta tape clutched in his hands. “Your shirt’s inside out.”</p><p>That’s Dustin for you. Always ready to helpfully point out whatever it is you didn’t want anyone to notice.</p><p>“Oh, uh, is it?” Mr. Clarke said, staring down at his own shirt as if surprised that shirts exist.</p><p>“Don’t worry; it happens to the best of us. One time, after sixth period, I noticed my shirt had been on backwards pretty much the entire day.” Robin glanced at the tape’s title as Mr. Clarke passed it to her, his gaze still downward, puzzling over his polo shirt. She grinned. “<em>The Mysterious Monsters, </em>huh?”</p><p>“It was the only film like this I could find,” Mr. Clarke said. He stared at the rest of the room and the shelves of tapes with the same confusion. “Are there any others?”</p><p>“Monster movies?” Robin perked up. Now that she’s fought a real live monster, her love of monster movies has gone from casual to obsessive. It’s a little terrifying. “Oh yeah, what are you looking for? Werewolves, the living dead—”</p><p>“Documentaries, actually.”</p><p>“Oh.” Robin took a moment to read the slipcover out loud: “‘Proof there are giant creatures living at the edge of our civilization.’”</p><p>“Didn’t know you were a Nessie fan, Mr. C,” Steve said, waving to the teens as they left with a chorus of, “Bye, Steve. Bye, Mr. Clarke.”</p><p>“Sorry, no others I know of,” Robin said. Steve tried to remember if any of their documentaries were about monsters and things that go bump in the night, but all he could remember was the one about the sharks.</p><p><em> “The Legend of Bigfoot,” </em> Keith said with the enthusiasm of a stoned turtle. “Follow me; it’s near the back.”</p><p>As soon as Mr. Clarke and Keith were out of earshot, Robin muttered, “That was odd.”</p><p>“It’s Mr. Clarke, he’s always odd,” Steve said. The guy liked to talk about brains and circuitry and stuff. Total weirdo.</p><p>“Hate to break it to you, dingus, but having more than a middle school understanding of biology isn’t odd,” Robin quipped.</p><p>“Ha. Ha,” Steve deadpanned. </p><p>As usual, he didn’t have much to look at other than the romance section as those shelves were the closest to his register. <em> Harold and Maude, The Great Gatsby, Sixteen Candles. </em> Wait a minute.</p><p>“Hey, so all these movies, they’re all ‘girl meets boy.’ Are there any, you know, girl meets girl or boy meets boy?” Steve said, lowering his voice to a near whisper to avoid being overheard. Wow, no wonder Will never voted for any romance movies for movie nights. Steve felt bad he had never really thought about it before.</p><p>Surely there had to be some movie Steve could recommend, just so Will wouldn’t feel so left out. A movie where a cute guy meets a man, and there’s some flirting, some romance. <em> ‘With a smile like that, who could resist you?’ </em> a ridiculously handsome man would whisper to some shy guy who couldn’t seem to find love. The guy would blush, flattered that such a beautiful man would be interested—</p><p>“In Hawkins? Closest you’ll find is <em> Nightmare on Elm Street 2.</em>” </p><p>“Um, what?” Steve said, brain stalling as it was assaulted by memories. <em> Nightmare on Elm Street 2 </em>was one of several movies he had snuck into the theatre to watch using the employee entrance at his old job. Instead of what he expected—a sequel featuring more blood geysers and Nancy Thompson once again running terrified through boiler rooms—he’d been instead treated to so many camera shots of men’s bare asses and underwear-clad crotches it felt like he was back in the High School locker room. It’s the only movie he’s seen where a man kissed another man, even if it wasn’t on the lips. </p><p>He admits he watched every second of that movie, from Jesse suggestively dancing with a mini bat to Freddy bursting out from Jesse’s stomach, which somehow managed to come across as some sort of sexual something or other. </p><p>“‘Fred Krueger. He’s inside me and he wants to take me again!’” Robin cried out, quoting the movie.</p><p>Steve had been unable to look away from the movie screen even when Freddy Kruger stroked his finger knives around Jesse’s lips, though whether it was because he was uncomfortable or fascinated, or uncomfortably fascinated, he couldn’t say.</p><p>“I meant a romance, not a monster movie!” Wait, did a vengeful ghost count as a monster?</p><p>“Who’s to say monster movies aren’t romances?” Robin looked seconds away from cackling. She was an evil, evil woman. Slinging an arm around his shoulder, she gave some last advice. “All it takes is a little imagination.”</p><p>What? Just… what?</p><p>“Okay, maybe not Freddy Krueger, with the face, and the maggots under his skin, and all the child murdering,” Robin admitted. “But, like, shapeshifters and demons? Hell yes! Sign me up for a shapeshifter girlfriend!”</p><p>“I literally do not know what to say to you right now.” Out of the corner of his eye Steve caught Keith and Mr. Clarke returning to the registers. Which meant, thank god, an escape from the conversation. Steve greeted Keith with, “I never thought I would say this, but I am so happy to see you.”</p><p>“Okay?” Keith eyed him like he’d gone insane. It wasn’t Steve who had gone insane, it was <em> Robin. </em></p><p>True to nature, Keith abandoned Mr. Clarke at the registers leaving Robin to deal with the checkout process. Which left Steve free from awkward conversations and Robin’s monster-loving craziness.</p><p>A block of orange on the counter caught his attention. Lucas forgot his book, just typical. One of Dustin’s jackets had already been abandoned in his car for weeks now and just this past month he found a walkie-talkie back at his apartment that he <em> knows </em> must be one of the teens’ but every one of them refuses to claim it.</p><p>Bored and a little curious, he idly flipped through the pages. According to Lucas’s explanation of why he’s been reading it all summer, the book was some sort of translation of something written by a military genius who lived a really long time ago. Though how advice written before the invention of guns was to be of any use, Steve didn’t know.</p><p><em> “El doesn’t have superpowers anymore,” </em> Lucas had said. <em> “If the Mind Flayer comes back, we’re screwed!” </em></p><p>Steve’s thoughts on this, especially late at night when he can’t sleep, is there’s no reason to think the Mind Flayer will be back. The gate is closed and the Russian scientists who reopened it are gone. And there is no reason at all for the feeling of dread that’s always twisting in his stomach.</p><p><em> “If Russia found out about the gate, every government in the world knows by now!” </em> Lucas had continued. “<em>Who knows who will open the gate next. We need a plan, some way to fight the Mind Flayer. This book is all about strategy. It’s exactly what we need.” </em></p><p>The book looked to be nothing more than a collection of lists. Steve paused on a random page. </p><p>“‘If you are anxious to fight, you should not go to meet the invader near a river which he has to cross,”’ Steve read out loud. “Okay, I don’t see how this is supposed to help.”</p><p>“Read the sticky notes, dingus,” Robin said right in his ear. Steve was not surprised and did <em> not </em> jump, not even a little. “See, Lucas made notes of anything important.”</p><p>If she wanted to read it so bad, the least she could do was not read it over his shoulder. He passed the book to her and she flipped through a few pages to a sticky note and read out loud, “‘Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.’ So? Not the worst advice.”</p><p>“Fine,” Steve said. “So maybe it could help. A little.”</p><p>Robin snorted. Steve heard the rumble of traffic that meant the front door was open and glanced over to make sure no one was leaving without checking out. He saw Nancy stumble in through the front door.</p><p>“Nancy?” Yeah, sure, now that Nancy and Jonathan both worked downtime sometimes the three of them would eat together on their lunch breaks, especially when Steve was working a shift by himself, but lunch wasn’t for hours. </p><p>“Steve, I need to borrow your car,” Nancy said. Her eyes were all red and puffy like she’d been crying. “I’m sorry, it’s just, Jonathan’s at the governor’s, you know, for a story, and he has the car and the sheriff called. She needs someone who knew Barb, but the Hollands, they live so far away now. They won’t get here until tomorrow, and I was her closest friend. And the sheriff, she wants to know who might do such a thing, so she needs me there right away, at the graveyard, and I can’t get ahold of Jonathan. Steve, someone dug up her grave and stole her body. <em> Someone dug up Barb’s grave.” </em></p><p>“Oh Nance.” Jesus, it was those fuckers who used to work at the lab, he just knew it. “Look, I’ll drive you and we’ll both talk to the sheriff, okay?” Next time he saw Mr. and Mrs. Holland, he wanted to say he did whatever he could to help the police find Barb’s body.</p><p>When the lab was finally forced two years ago to publicly confess to Barbara Holland’s death, her body had mysteriously shown up at the morgue only days later. The scientists at the lab must have held onto it for months, though how they got it in the first place he doesn’t know, but he has a guess. According to Joyce, the lab had been sending soldiers into the Upside Down for months for reconnaissance and to burn away whatever part of the Mind Flayer was creeping too close to their own dimension.</p><p>“Keith! I’m taking the rest of the day off.” Steve hurriedly grabbed his things while Robin hugged Nancy and held on tight.</p><p>Whenever and however those soldiers found Barb’s body, the lab hadn’t had the decency to bury her. She likely sat in cold storage for months, only to be taken out for whenever the next stage of the autopsy began. At least until the lab’s misdeeds were broadcasted to the public thanks to Nancy and Jonathan’s investigation, which forced their hands.</p><p>Now they’ve stolen her again.</p><p>“Want to get back with Nancy that bad?” Keith’s unimpressed stare was judgemental enough to remind Steve of his mother’s any time he mentioned his job. His mother liked to say Family Video was no place for a <em> “young man with potential if only he learned to apply himself.” </em>“From what I hear, she’s already got a boyfriend.”</p><p>Steve did <em> not </em> have time for this today.</p><p>“I’m going because she’s my friend, and because Barb deserves better.” </p><p>Keith rolled his eyes and made a shooing motion, Keith-speak for “I see the error of my ways and grant you the rest of the day off work and I will never ever doubt you again.” Or something like that.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>There was something important he’d remembered just a minute ago but he couldn’t remember it anymore. It was hard to think with the sunlight stabbing into his eyes and his skin screaming from all the heat.</p><p>He was going somewhere, where was…? Oh, the road he’s walking next to, he needs to follow the road. The road because it leads to, well, something. </p><p>The house. Right, it leads to the house, the house he hates because it’s in the middle of fucking nowhere, in a fucking town he hates because this isn’t California, this is—</p><p>He remembered again.</p><p>“Billy,” he reminded himself. “My name is Billy.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>My tumblr is <a href="https://prosebyrose.tumblr.com/">https://prosebyrose.tumblr.com/</a>!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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